Ubuntu 9.10: New Feature Roundup

With Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) set to debut this week, here's a run down of all the new features and changes covered by WorksWithU in the last several months.

As the final non-LTS release before Lucid Lynx in April, Karmic is heavy on new features--which are likely to be less pronounced in Ubuntu 10.04, where Canonical will concentrate on stability and performance.

Aesthetics

First, in the look-and-feel department, Karmic will feature a new theme and icons, as well as a flashier and more elegant gdm login manager. These changes are a beginning to the aesthetic overhaul that has been promised for some time, and will hopefully continue with future releases.

New apps

Probably the most visible addition to the default application stack is Ubuntu One. Also noticeable is the replacement of the instant-messaging client Pidgin with Empathy, a decision marked by more than a little controversy among users and developers. I concluded from my own comparison of Pidgin and Empathy that the differences between them are negligible for most people, and those up in arms over the change should calm down.